New member -- Hi all! (Question at bottom)

[Koby the Interactive Bear <kchodosh...>]

Hi everyone, this is Koby Chodosh from Long Island. I'm sixteen years old -- a 
senior in high school. Here's a little introduction to myself...
(There's a question at the bottom that's actually relevant to the list)

So I got into Klezmer four years ago when my mom (a hebrew school principal) 
was working in Port Washington at Temple Beth Torah or Beth Israel or something 
like that. They got a big-ass arts grant that, among other things, allowed the 
Klezmatics to be the shul's artists in residence or whatever they're called. So 
they played a bunch of concerts. A lot of fun they were, but the coolest thing 
that happened was Sruli (clarinet) & Alicia Svigals (violin) led an 
"Intergenerational Klezmer Band" at the shul. There was some sheet music, but 
since I play the trombone, I had to be introduced to the wonderful world of 
reading chords ("D, D A D, A D A, D, D A D, A D A", etc.) without reading sheet 
music. This was the first time I'd ever done that! We really jammed at some of 
those rehearsals. I had a great time and learned a lot.

And then this summer I went to CAJE. CAJE is the Conference on Alternatives in 
Jewish Education. I was in the teen program -- and there was a teen klezmer 
band. I was surprised to se Sruli there, this time with David "Fabrangen 
Fiddlers" Schneyer and Sruli's partner in crime (where crime = "Oy Vey!", the 
kid's klezmer group) Lisa Mayer. So we played a lot and I learned some more. 
Even cooler though were the klezmer concerts there. On Tuesday night, in one 
location, there was klezmer from 6:30 until after midnight! The best groups 
were Klingon Klezmer (buy their CD! they brought the house down), Metropolitan 
Klezmer, The Klezical Tradition (my friend's their drummer. he wasn't there 
though) D. Schneyer with Alan Oresky (DS had lost his voice, but Alan was 
*sweet*!), and RebbeSoul (who played on a different night). The Jewish stuff 
and meeting the other people really changed my life -- it was unbelievable.

So now I'm starting a klezmer band with my friends. So far the interested 
parties include two trombones, clarinet, drummer, violinist, and trumpet. Very 
cool. I'll be jamming for the first time this friday with the clarinet and the 
drummer. We won't have much music, so I'll try to teach them some simple stuff 
by ear... I hope it works out. (My mom suggested we could get gigs at hebrew 
schools. And of course there's always nursing homes who'd be glad to have us. 
But it would be REALLY cool if we could play for ska people, although that 
would be harder...)

I listen to all kinds of music -- latin, jazz, swing (the first jazz album I 
ever heard was Benny Goodman Live in Carnegie Hall), ska, hip-hop, rock, weird 
stuff like David Byrne & Beck, and a lil' classical besides. Besides playing 
the trombone I like hand drumming and swing dancing.

***
Thanks for reading this far! Now I have a question: Where's the best place to 
get remastered versions of Ye Olde Klezmer Masters like N. Branwein and D. 
Tarras? Does such a thing even exist?

BTW, I'm working on a "KlezMP3s" web page (with one or two samples of each of 
my favorite groups)... tell you when it's up.

- Koby the Interactive Bear
btw, frank london's klezmer brass allstars is the S**T... so is "ballin' the 
jack," f.l.'s jazz group

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